


Most Ardently

by MizJoely



Series: SherlollyPrompts [24]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, Sherlolly - Freeform, regency!lock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 11:15:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11988666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MizJoely/pseuds/MizJoely
Summary: ladyjenniferr on tumblr asked: Hi! I'm not sure if I'm supposed to give prompts here or if you are looking to receive any but here goes... I love period sherlolly. Sherlock from an influential old family...but poor. Molly from a merchant family who struck it rich but have no title...I leave the rest to your incredible imagination.





	Most Ardently

**Author's Note:**

> This is an old ask I've left laying in my inbox for far too long (let's just say I received in July and never mind July of what year). Have some K rated arranged marriage Regency Sherlolly with just a dash of Jane Austen. I hope you enjoy it!

"Papa, are you certain about this? Do you truly think that his lordship and I will make a good match?"

Matthew Hooper took his daughters hands in his and met her worried gaze with a calm smile. "Yes, my dear. Lord Sherlock was very agreeable when his parents and I broached the subject of joining our two families by your marriage."

"Agreeable but hardly enthusiastic, I'm sure," Molly murmured, remembering all too well the coolness with which she'd been greeted by Sir Sherlock at their every meeting. "And I'm certain his brother was not so agreeable." Sir Mycroft had been even more cool and distant than his younger brother at their one and only meeting, a feat she'd not thought possible. "He despises us because we're nothing but a, a bunch of jumped-up commoners seeking to better ourselves by buying a title."

Her father shrugged, a wry smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Well, and so we are. But it was your later mother's fondest wish to see you settled well, to keep you from falling into marriage with some opportunistic social climber who was only interested in your money…"

"And now I am the opportunistic social climber instead," Molly cut in bitterly. "And I can assure you that Sir Sherlock and his parents are only interested in my - our - money as well…"

"I can assure you that is far from true, at least as far as I am concerned."

Molly and Matthew both turned in surprise at the sound of the unexpected voice. Molly's face flushed a bright pink at the sight of her husband-to-be, standing in the doorway to the parlor, a very nervous looking maid hovering behind him. "So sorry, he just pushed his way in past Anderson, insisted on seeing you.."

"It's fine, Sarah," Molly assured the younger woman. "Please have Madame Cho prepare tea for our guest."

The relieved servant dispatched, all that was left to do was to invite Sir Sherlock into the room. He and Matthew exchanged handshakes; some unspoken message seemed to pass between them, and within moments Molly found herself alone with her future husband while her father made his excuses and hurried from the room.

"I am sorry that you heard me say such horrible things," Molly said after a moment. "Please, won't you have a seat?" She perched on the edge of the settee, expecting him to take the basket seat opposite, but was surprised when he chose instead to seat himself next to her. Rather closer than was proper, much to her dismay - and secret pleasure.

"I notice that you did not say you were sorry for saying them," Sir Sherlock noted, a hint of humor in his lovely baritone. Why oh why did he have to be so attractive? Molly silently lamented, not for the first time. Attractive and intelligent, but as cold as his elder brother to her at their every meeting thus far.

She flushed pinker at his words. Of course he would have observed that she wasn't actually apologizing to him. And why should she? He had come into their home uninvited and unannounced, eavesdropped on a private conversation, and somehow managed to put her father from the room without a single word. She wasn't sorry at all, she decided crossly.

He smiled at her. "And now you have decided to be angry with me," he said, correctly deducing her expression and emotional upheaval. "As well you should be - and not just for my actions today," he added, his own expression softening into a sort of rueful tenderness that took her very much by surprise. "I have been a poor suitor indeed, and it is I who must offer up an apology for making you feel as if you are nothing to me but a means of financial stability for my family. I can assure you, nothing could be farther from the truth."

"Then what is the truth?" Molly asked, hardly daring to breathe as she met his gaze.

Her hands only trembled a little as he folded them into his. "The truth, Miss Hooper, is that I was quite put out when I discovered that my supposedly common, boring, social-climbing mouse was actually none of those things. Your intelligence was unexpected; you've done a masterful job at hiding it, as is expected for a woman of either your class or my own, but it piqued my interest from the start. That I hid such interest so well that you never sensed is a source of both shame and annoyance to me now."

He seemed to hesitate, and Molly, heart racing in her chest, squeezed his hands before asking, "And is that…all?"

The rueful smile returned to his beautiful mouth. "Ah, so it is as I thought; you  _do_ see me, Miss Hooper. No, it was not merely your intelligence that caught my attention, but also the fact that you were clearly doing this not to improve your own social standing, but out of a sense of both duty and - difficult though it was for me to believe at first - love for your parents, especially in regards to your late mother. It has always seemed foolish to me to be so desirous of honoring the wishes of the dead that one would put their own needs aside in order to do so. And in this case, that still holds true," he added with a slight frown puckering the flesh between his eyebrows. "However, that is not the point."

"And what is the point, Sir Sherlock?" Molly asked, a slight smile hovering about her lips as she intuited where the conversation seemed to be heading.

"The point, Miss Hooper," he replied with an answering smile, "is that I have, much to my chagrin, found that I not only respect and admire you, but that I love you. Most ardently."

So happy was she to hear such words from his lips that Molly very nearly missed his next question. "I'm sorry?" she said, blushing yet again.

"I said, would you mind very much if we were to dispense with the formalities when we are in private?" he repeated with a twinkle in his eyes. "I would very much like permission to use your first name, and to hear you drop the 'sir' from mine."

She nodded. "Very well…Sherlock. You may call me by my Christian name."

"Molly." With that single word, the first time she'd heard it from his lips, he leaned forward and laid his mouth against hers in a sweet kiss. "Molly Hooper, soon to be Holmes," he pronounced after the kiss had ended. "I believe this match will be very much to both our advantages - finances and titles be damned."

And so it turned out to be.


End file.
